Apparatus for aligning envelope blanks and the like



l. RUTH 3,379,432

NVELOPE BLANKS AND THE LIK A ril 23, 1968 APPARATUS FOR ALIGNING 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 2, 1966 R W7. A mu m I. RUTH April 23, 1968 APPARATUS FOR ALIGNING ENVELOPE BLANKS AND THE'LIKE Fil ed June 2, 1966 IGNAZ RUTH BY RJcAJiG-i ATTORNEY I. RUTH April 23, 1968 APPARATUS FOR ALIGNING ENVELOPE BLANK-S AND THE LAKE Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 2, 1966 \NVENTOR \GNAZ RUTH ATTQRNEY Unitd States Patent 3,379,432 APPARATUS FOR ALIGNING ENVELOPE BLANKS AND THE TAKE llgnaz Riith, Gullesheim, Horhausen, Germany, assignor to Richard Winkle: and Kurt Dunnehier, doing business as Winkier 8; Dunnebier Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei, Neuwied (Rhine), Germany Filed June 2, 1966, Ser. No. 554,790 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 11, 1965, w 40,499 7 Claims. (til. 2712) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE Long cut-out envelope blanks are aligned by the use of pins which engage the rear cut-outs of an envelope blank and other pins which engage the front cut-outs of the envelope blank. These pins are rotated and moved toward and away from each other while other means are used to guide the envelope portions to and from these pins. The pins are moved toward each other to set the envelope portion and then are moved away from each other to release the envelope portion.

This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of envelopes and the like and refers more particularly to a device for aligning and setting envelope blanks before they :are introduced into the folding machine. The invention is particularly concerned with a machine for the aligning and setting of envelope blanks which are moved into the machine in an overlapped or staggered relation for the application and drying of glue upon their closure flaps, the blank envelope portions being withdrawn individually and adjusted separately in relation to their outer edges prior to their introduction into the folding machine, so that after subsequent folding the four edges of the completed envelope will correspond precisely with the four corner cutouts of the blank.

It is known in prior art to make envelopes of so-called V-flap shape, namely, from rhomb-shaped blanks with four cutouts, by using slow running machines processing, for example, up to about 400 envelopes per minute, whereby each individual blank is held for a short time and is set at the four corner cutouts bet-ween two front pins and two rear pins movable toward the front pins in the general direction of the movement of the pieces. Then the blank is further moved to the folding machine. This is described, for example, in German Patent No. 488,851.

If the manufacture of larger amounts of envelopes per minute is desired, the blanks cannot be held immovable for setting purposes. Machines having outputs of 1,000 and more envelopes per minute employ known devices suitable for rhornb-shaped blanks wherein each blank is grasped at the rear corner cutouts (relatively to the direction of the movement of the pieces) by two pins carried by rotary discs, the blanks moving continuously and passing in the course of this movement through a curved slit formed by the circumference of the rotary discs and fixed curved guides enclosing a port-ion of this circumference at a small distance therefrom. This is described, for example, in United States Patent No. 2,944,812.

It is also known in prior art to set envelope blanks during their straight continuous movement by the use of pins engaging the rear corner cutouts and connected to moving roller chains, wherein the blanks are held down by straight ledges located above the chains. These devices operating with pins attached to chains, are comparatively simple and are also suitable for an output of a large number of blanks per minute. However, devices of this type using pin chains cannot obtain such a precise setting 3,379,432 Patented Apr. 23, 1968 of the blanks and the holding of the blanks in continuous operation, as is possible with the above described device of the Patent No. 2,944,812, since despite the guiding of chains, side deviations of the pins cannot be avoided and it is not possible to eliminate changes in lengths of the chains.

All the above described prior art devices are not suitable for the setting in the direction of movement of comparatively long blanks, for eXarnple, of envelopes with double side seam in machines having an output of about 1,000 pieces per minute. The two pins engaging the rear cutouts are not adequate to set envelope blanks with double side seam which often reach them with certain side and angular deviations; thus these blanks are not located precisely in the correct position with respect to their axes of symmetry and at precisely equal distances from each other and the length of these blanks is too great in relation to the spacing of the pins engaging the rear side of the blanks, so that it is not possible to provide a necesary side correction in the position of the front part of the blank.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a device which will not have the above described drawbacks and which can be used for the setting of envelope blanks with double side seam or similar long blanks with an output of 1,000 and more cutout portions per minute.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent in the course of the following specification.

In its realization the present invention starts with the disclosure of the above described device in Patent No. 2,944,812.

In the attainment of the objectives of the present invention it was found desirable to provide a device to which the blanks are guided individually and wherein they are set in a circular guide by pins continuously ro tated in a circular path and engaging thorn in the rear cutout-s as well as along the side edges of their long front portions, the setting taking place by a guided movement of these pins toward each other preferably transversely to the direction of movement of the cutout portions.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings showing by way of example, a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal section through a device of the present invention along the lines II of FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIGURE 2 is a transverse section along the lines III=1 of FIG. 1.

FIGURE 3 is a tOp view of the device without showing the top guides, however.

FIGURE 4 is a flat top view of a larger scale of pins engaging a blank side.

The machine shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 has walls 1, 2 supporting a rotary shaft 3 upon roller bearings 4, the shaft 3 being secured in the longitudinal direction. A sleeve 5 with right hand screw threads is screwed upon the side wall 1 concentrically to the shaft 3, while a sleeve 6 with left hand threads is screwed upon the wall 2. Two discs 7 are held by keys 3 upon the shaft but they are axially movable upon the shaft. A disc 9 is firmly mounted upon the shaft 3 between the discs 7, whereby the disc 9 can not move in any direction relatively to the shaft; the three discs 7, 9 have the same outer diameter. A separate annular disc 10 is screwed upon each of the discs 7 by screws 11. As shown in FIG. 2, after the screws 11 have been unscrewed, the discs 10 can be turned concentrically relatively to their discs 7 by a certain angle.

Chain wheels 12 are provided with inner corresponding right hand and left hand screw threads and are rotatably mounted upon sleeves 5 and 6. They are connected with discs 7 by rings 14 which are attached to the chain wheels 12 by screws 13, and by ball bearings 15 extending between the hubs of the discs 7 and the rings 14 and fixed therein to prevent longitudinal shifting. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the two chain wheels 12 rotate jointly and through this rotation the two discs 7 can move toward each, other symmetrically to the disc 9 01' can move away from each other.

Five angular levers 16 are uniformly distributed upon each disc 7 and are swingably mounted upon bolts 17 extending preferably transversely to the shaft 3. Each angular lever 16 has a pin-like extension 18 which projects outwardly through a corresponding slot 19 beyond the circumference of the disc 7. Similarly five angular levers 20 are uniformly distributed upon each of the annular discs 10 and are swingably mounted upon bolts 21. The levers 20 also have pin-like extensions 22 which project outwardly beyond the discs 7 through corresponding slits 23. The slits 23 extend in the direction of rotation of the discs 7 so that, as described above, the annular discs along with the levers 20 can be turned relatively to the discs 7, so as to adjust the circumferential distance between the pins 18 and 22 corresponding to the size of the blank to be processed.

Each of the angular levers 16, 20 carries upon its inwardly extending arm a rotary roller 24. Springs 25 press against the levers, thus pressing the rollers 24 against two curved cams or discs 26. Each of the two discs 26 is mounted upon a ball bearing 27 which i carried upon the hub of the corresponding disc 7 and is secured against sidewise shifting. However, arms 28 screwed upon the discs 26 prevent their rotation relatively to the shaft 3. When the discs 7 are moved axially due to the rotation of the chain wheels 12 upon the threaded sleeves 5, 6, the discs 26 are also moved axially.

Two chain carrying wheels 31 are used to provide a common rotation of the chain wheels 12 in order to shift the discs 7. A shaft 30 is rotatably mounted upon the walls of the machine casing and is secured longitudinally by location rings 29. The wheels 31 are fixed to prevent their rotation relatively to the shaft 30 but are longitudinally movable thereon. Arms 28 which are fixed upon the curved discs 26 have fork-shaped ends engaging corresponding annular grooves of hubs 32 of chain wheels 31. The arms 28 thus secure the curved disrs 26 against rotation relatively to the shaft 3 and shift the chain wheels 31 axially in the same direction in which the chain wheels 12 and the discs 7 are moved axially when the chain wheels 12 are rotated.

A hand wheel 34 is used to rotate the shaft 30 which when the device is operated, is held in the Wall 2 of the casing by a screw 33 having a handle.

Each curved disc 26 carries a guide 35 which is concentric to the discs 7 and 9 and has the same radius as these discs. The guides 35 are firmly screwed into the discs 26 and their lengths correspond to the path of the cutout portions upon the circumference of the discs 7 and 9. Circular outer guides 36, 37 are located above the discs 7 and 9; they have a somewhat larger inner radius than the discs 7 and 9, so that a circular slit 38 is formed between these discs and the outer guides 36 and 37. The outer guides 36 preferably carry a number of brushes 39 for the braking of the blanks. Rollers 40, 40' are provided upon the front and rear ends of the outer guides 37 and are preferably pressed by springs against the circumference of disc 9.

A bridge 41 which holds the outer guides, rests upon supports fixed upon casing walls 1, 2. The bridge 41 is swingable upwardly upon a bolt 42 and during operations is firmly clamped by a handle-carrying lock 43 and a screw 44. A plate 46 rigidly attaches the central guide 37 to the bridge 41, while the plates 47 connected to the side guides 36 are so connected to the bridge that they can shift sidewise in slots in one direction corresponding to the distance of the discs 7 from each other. After the lock 43 is vopened the bridge with the outer guides and the parts firmly connected therewith can be swung upwardly, with the result that the discs and other parts located below them become accessible. The shaft 3 with the discs 7 and 9 is operated in rhythm with the envelopemaking machine through a coupling 38, 49 which has means (not shown) providing a fine adjustment of an angular movement of its two halves relatively to each other after loosening the screws 50; the shaft 3 is so operated that it makes one revolution to five revolutions of the feeding rollers 51 (if there are 5 sets of angular levers 16, 20 at the discs 7).

The bolts 17, 21 upon which the levers 16, 26 are swingably mounted, can deviate from the preferred perpendicular direction to the shaft 3 and can be so inclined that when the opposed pins 18 and the opposed pins 22 move toward each other, the pins 18 engaging a blank will approach somewhat the pins 22. The pins 18, 22 can be attached to the levers 16, 20. so that they are able to move sidewise thereon, for example, by flanges 70, 71 and screws 72, as illustrated at the bottom of FIG. 2. This facilitates the precise adjustment of the individual pins. Furthermore, adjustable stops are advantageously provided to limit the inward movement of all pins 18, 22 independently from the stroke of the curves 26, such as the screws 73 with nuts 74, shown at the top of FIG. 2 and in FIG. 1.

The operation of the described apparatus is as follows:

Blanks of envelopes are advanced in overlapped or staggered relation in the direction of the arrow between belts 57, 58 which move around rollers 55, 56 and are held downwardly by resiliently supported rollers 59. When the front blank moves between the withdrawing roller segments 51 and their counter-roller 52 by way of guides 53, its speed is increased and one blank is pulled out for each revolution of the withdrawing roller segments 51, whereupon the blank is guided upon guides 54 between the roller and resiliently supported rollers 61 and is moved into the circular slit 38 between the outer guides 36', 37 and the discs 7, 8, being pressed against the disc 8 by the spring loaded rollers 40. Then the blank is located substantially in the position B (FIG. 3) and has no contact as yet with the pins 18', 22' which are all still located at a substantial distance from each other. During further rotation of the discs 7, 9 the blank B is freed from the rollers 40, its speed is diminished due to friction at the guides 35, 37 and brushes 39, and it engages the pins 22 which followed it. The pins are then moved by the springs 25 and cams 26 from their wide receiving position 18', 22 for the newly arriving blank into their closest position 18, 22 set to correspond to the shape of the blank; then they set and hold the blank sidewise, as indicated at B".

The adjusting of the blanks is terminated, when their front edges move under the spring loaded rollers 40. They are guided then over guides 63 between a roller 64 with resilient counter-rollers 65 and between further guide rollers 66, 67 to an adjacent folding machine.

It is apparent that the example described above has been given solely by way of illustration and not by way of limitation and that it is subject to many variations and modifications within the scope of the present invention. All such variations and modifications are to be included within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for the aligning and setting of long cutout envelope blanks having front and rear cutouts prior to their folding, particularly blanks of double side seam envelopes, said apparatus comprising two pins for engaging rear cutouts of an envelope blank, two other pins for engaging front cutouts of said envelope blank, means guiding the envelope blanks to and from said pins and means rotating said pins and moving the first mentioned pins and the second-mentioned pins toward each other to set said envelope blank and away from each other to release said envelope blank.

2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second-mentioned means comprise swingable levers connected with said pins, springs engaging said levers, rollers carried by said levers and curved cam discs engaging said rollers for actuating said levers and pins.

3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 2, wherein the pins, the levers which carry them and the curved cam discs which actuate them constitute two units located on opposite sides of the path of the guided envelope blanks, the second means further comprising two discs, means carried by the last-mentioned discs and carrying said levers, each of the last-mentioned discs belonging to a separate unit, and a shaft carrying the last-mentioned discs, the last-mentioned discs being movable relatively to each other upon said shaft for adjustment corresponding to the width of the envelope blank being set.

4. An apparatus in accordance with claim 3, wherein the means carried by the last-mentioned discs and carrying levers which are connected with said other pins, comprise annular discs and screws attaching said annular discs to the last-mentioned discs, said annular discs being adjustable concentrically upon the last-mentioned discs to adjust the location of said other pins relatively to the firstmentioned pins depending upon the length of the envelope blank being set.

5. An apparatus in accordance with claim 3, wherein the pins are adjustable transversely to the direction of their length, said apparatus further comprising adjustable stops carried by the last-mentioned discs and engaged by said levers for limiting the movements of said pins relatively to each other.

6. An apparatus in accordance with claim 3, wherein the second-mentioned means further comprise two sleeves having opposed screw thread windings and located at opposite ends of said shaft, wheels mounted uponsaid sleeves for engaging and moving the last-mentioned discs relatively to each other upon said shaft, and manually operable means for actuating said wheels.

7. An apparatus in accordance with claim 6, wherein the last-mentioned means comprise a manually rotatable shaft and chain drives connecting the last-mentioned shaft with said wheels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,153,533 10/1964 Novick 271-2 EDWARD A. SROKA, Primaly Examiner. 

